No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
by Shiittake Ramen
Summary: OUAT AU in which Regina bows out gracefully and Henry learns the hard way that life is full of various shades of grey. Dark curse is still in place but only for a little while and the Charming's are almost the bad guys and Emma points out some hard truths. One-shot


**Disclaimer** : This is just a short one-shot to get the juices flowing again. I will be updating my other stories as soon as my muse stops being an evasive heffer. **Edited**.

 **P.S**. Set during season 1 before the curse is broken and after Emma takes over as Sheriff.

* * *

Regina frowned as she packed a box making the scar above her lip more prominent. She was at the breaking point where she was bowing out gracefully to the many people who had dictated and ruined her life. The same people who made her who she became/was. By surrendering gracefully it kept her pride intacted because it was her choice and it protected her allowing her freedom from their control. As she gazed at a picture of her and Henry when he was younger she frowned even deeper. He had grown up so fast and change so much because of that dangerous book.

The former Evil Queen couldn't find it in herself to mad at Emma any more than the normal level of disdain she felt for all the Charming's. Emma had gone out of her way to explain to Henry why she gave him up and that Regina _was_ his mother. Henry however got his stubbornness from Regina and refused to see reason. Believing that the world was black and white because of that stupid book.

Since she cast the curse only a few select people could come and go from StoryBrooke with ease. That small group included Emma (she was put in the closet and sent off before the curse), Henry (because he was born outside of the curse), and Regina who needed to go to another places to fulfill her duties as mayor. The curse was interesting in that sense. Granted she always came right back from business outside of town. Plus, the curse didn't stop people from visiting just the Enchanted Forest people from leaving.

Regina sighed and packed the few pictures she had of Henry into another box. She would need this as a reminder that she didn't get to have a happy ending even if she really did love the boy and would always have a place for him in her heart. Going on faith as she loaded her car she looked back at 108 Mifflin Dr.(?) and her fairly large house.

It held so many good memories and she couldn't bare to reside in it any longer. She didn't have the heart to tell Henry about his book and what really happened between her and the people of StoryBrooke. Regina was worried about how the curse would react once she crossed the town line. Since it was anchored to her because she cast it she didn't know if it would brake completely or come up with a way to wash her out of StoryBrooke history.

Regina was willing to take the risk since Henry seemed hell bent on claiming Emma as his mother and denouncing her and her sweat, blood, and tears she shed raising him for the last ten years. She had changed enough that after killing Graham she knew she was getting in to deep. The Evil Queen was dead and she didn't want to bring her back and feel that emptiness ever again.

She drove slowly through the town memorizing the building and the streets as she made her way to the town line. This time she wouldn't be coming back and she had been in The World Without Magic long enough to make it just about anywhere. The south seemed nice with its old manner and hospitality she could make a name for herself doing something or another. Lord knew she was done with politics.

Regina pressed the brakes lightly as she approached the sign that said " _Leaving StoryBrooke Thank you for visiting"_ the soft hum of magic shimmering in front of the car. She took a deep breath this was it and while the rest of the town slumbered the Evil Queen broke the curse simply by driving over the town line and to her own little bit of contentment.

Emma was assaulted with memories of her as a baby and her parents Mary Margret (Snow white) and David Nolan (Prince Charming) in her dreams. She woke abruptly looking at the clock that showed eight am in neon red. Henry had be right about the curse and everything. But Emma had learned in her twenty eight years that there were always three sides to a story: his side, her side, and the truth. She needed to speak with the mayor.

Hoping out of the bed and washing and dressing in under ten minutes she threw on her coat and rushed down the stairs. Mary Margret was up with a look of remembrance on her face and tries in her eyes.

"Emma I knew you would come back to us and break the Evil Queen's curse." She said trying to hugged Emma.

Emma froze up not use to or even liking physically contact she didn't initiate. Mary Margret or Snow…whatever did seem to notice to happy to hug her tight and babble on and on through tears. The door swung open (small town so people don't lock their doors) and David Nolan came in hugging Mary Margret and looking at Emma with tears in his eyes.

"You've done it Emma." He said pride lacing his words.

Emma was baffled. She hadn't done anything and even if Henry had been right about the curse he was wrong about who would break it. She was no savior and she didn't remember doing anything remotely close to twenty-three-year-old curse breaking. Now she _really_ needed to talk to with the mayor. She just hoped she could catch her before she made a break for it.

Henry came down the stairs dressed, yawning with the book clutched in his hands.

"Oh Henry our sweet grandson." Mary Margret gushed rushing over to hug him.

Henry blinked and then his eyes lit up as it dawned on him. He beamed at Emma and David over Mary Margret houlder.

"You've done it Mum you broke the curse." He said excitingly.

After Mary Margret finished hugging the life out of him they rush to Granny's hoping to meet up with everyone that got their memories back. Granny's had become the unofficial meeting place of the whole town everyone hugging and crying finally glad to have their _real_ memories back. People shook Emma hand and patted her on the back with "Thank yous" aplenty.

Emma was starting to get pissed off she looked around the brushing restaurant hoping to spot Regina. She turned and asked if Ruby had seen Regina. The mood changed for jovial to hostile on ten seconds flat as people remembered why they were here. People grumbling and mourning the loss of loved ones and family left behind in the Enchanted forest.

"We should go over to the Mayor house and give her a piece of our mind." Someone shouted.

Several people agreed and Mary Margret and David was picked to lead them to city hall. Emma took a short cut to get there first to warn the mayor but she found the town hall empty. The angry mob outside shouted and cried for her head. Emma walked out to meet them.

"She isn't here." She shouted over the noise.

The crowd quieted down. Mary Margret stepped forward with David at her side.

"What do you mean she isn't there?" she asks.

Emma shrugged her shoulders.

"I looked she isn't here and I called her house number she isn't picking up." She explains.

"Maybe she run away because she knew she had lost to the savior." Henry said as he pushed his way to the front of the crowd.

Mummers of agreement ring through the people of StoryBrooke. Emma pursed her lips is frustration. She needed to clear the air before this all became more of a mess then it already was. Granted she didn't own Regina _anything_ after what her life had been like but part of the blamed laid on her parents (Good God she had _parents_ ). She hated speeches but this one was needed.

"People of StoryBrooke I know that your upset and angry about what the mayor um what Regina did and I get that. I'm a bit peeved about all this myself. However, I don't believe killing her will amount to much. You are not in the Enchanted Forest anymore and things work differently in this world." She explained to the crowd.

Emma gestured for Mary, David, and Henry to stand off to the side so she could talk to them in private. The crowns licking their wounds the situation of where they were finally setting in. Emma resisted the urge to let out a string of curses that would make a sailor blush and her friend and fellow New Yorker Lily beam proudly.

"Look I don't do the whole "say a lot of words thing" well but I think we need to do damage control here." Emma started starting at Mary and David. "Let's assume that Regina is hiding we need someone to keep order with the people and I can't do it because I have to track down our MIA mayor." She finished.

"Yes!" Henry said excited almost jumping up and down "You finally excepted being the Savior who will defeat the Evil Queen once and for all."

Emma sighed and really looked at Henry.

"Mary Margret, David can you give us a minute?" she asked.

They nodded and reluctantly went to police the people back to their homes so they could figure out what to do next now that the curse was broken.

"Henry Regina _is_ your mother and has taken good care of you for the past ten years. I told you that I gave you up so you could have your best chance and I meant ever word…But I do have to agree with your mother on one thing that book is giving you a screwed up sense up how the world real or magical really works.

Henry looked confused.

"But Emma I came to get you to save us from the curse and to rescue us from the Evil Queen. She doesn't know how to love and its her fault you had to give me up." He said.

Emma rubbed her face in annoyance she wasn't really good with kids in general and Henry was hardly an exception. Squashing the urge to smack him in frustration she took a deep claiming breath.

"Henry for the love of cow dung do be quite. That book is a bunch of _fairy tales_ even if they are based on real people. It's not telling you everything that may have happened in the Enchanted Forest and makes out Snow White to be the second coming of Christ. Done get me wrong Mary Margret is a nice woman but even she has her flaws." She said.

Emma held up her hand when Henry tried to defined himself.

"Do you know that your mother felt like she was fighting a losing battle when I came to town? Hmmm. I only wanted to make sure you were okay then I was going to go back to my life and forget about you and this town." She says eyeing him up and down.

"B..Bu..But you're the savior." Henry says in disbelief.

"Dear God you are one stubborn kid. Look Henry I didn't do anything to break the curse and I didn't bring you back to break the curse I was just doing the right thing. Which by the way I beginning to almost regret. Now go catch up with Mary Margret and David I have to go find your mother." She said dismissively.

Henry marched away tears brimming in his eyes as he caught up with Mary and David. He would keep believing even if Emma didn't. That _women_ was not his mother and deserved to lose to the good guys. The book had said so and the book had been right so far. He didn't need to hear the rest of the story because everything was already in the book. Emma just needed time to except her role and help Snow and David rule over the people of StoryBrooke.

Mary Margret a.k.a Snow White gripped David hand not wanting to lose him again. She was livid though she hid it well. Regina had gone too far and Snow was done being understanding and compassionate. She had a king…oops…town to run while Regina hid like a scared puppy. David was vibrating with justified angry himself. Because of the Evil Queen he had lost the right to raise his baby girl and missed most of his grandson's life.

He and Snow had a lot of years to make up for if Emma would have them. In the meantime, there was a Dark one and an Evil Queen to capture and stripped of their magic. No magic meant no threat and if they couldn't get back to the Enchanted Forest they would banned Rumpelstiltskin and Regina from the town.

A week passed and Emma had yet to see any sign of the Regina. The day the curse broke she went by her house to find it empty and the car gone. All the was left was a note in elegant script saying:

 _Dear Henry,_

 _I want to first say how sorry I am for everything that has happened. I just wanted you to have a better life than I did growing up even if I was a bit over baring at times. As I write this letter I like to think about those good times before we grew apart and that book came into our lives. Was it all really that bad? I have decided to leave the town and you so that you may be raised as you were meant to be. I have rescinded the adoption and the papers are attached if you wish to have Ms. Swan sign them giving her custody of you again. I am not doing this to be cruel, that couldn't be farther from the truth. I am doing this because I love you so much it pains me when you look at me with nothing but disgust and contempt on your face. That is my penance I suppose for all the evil I have done in my life time. By the time you read this you will realize that I have left the town and that the curse has broken. I would give it about week or so before it reverts back to the Enchanted Forest slowly but surely. I didn't destroy those parts of the forest the curse just changed them to suits its purpose. I do really love you and I will always have a place in my heart for you but I refuse to be disrespected and hurt by your words any longer. I will punish myself by never being able to go back to my home in the Enchanted Forest. There is nothing left for me there and as a pack the house away I think of the magic I will possibly no longer have to weld. I do wish you the best and I apologize to the people of StoryBrooke for all the suffering I've caused._

 _Sincerely Regina Mills_

 _P.S When the time is right I want you to hear the whole story so I have included all the good and the bad that made up me and Snow's long and complicated relationship._

Emma didn't know how to break the news to the Henry or the town that Regina was gone. There was also the pressing fact that the one who cast the curse was the same person who broke it so brownie points to Regina for that. The blonde sheriff looked around her office and as sure as the sky is blue she notice vines and trees growing into buildings that had not been there when she first arrived in town. Emma thought back to the meetings where M-Snow and David try to think of ways to get back to the Enchanted Forest. She snorted at the irony that Regina departure was the reason the people of this town was going back to their former home.

The sheriff however wasn't under any illusions about what she was going to do. Time it seemed wasn't on her side and she could only be grateful for the small miracle of a slow transition back into the Enchanted Forest. She needed to talk to Henry and her parents (God she would _not_ get use to that). Placing Grahams badge in safely in her jacket pocket she went in search of her family.

Snow and Charming sipped cups of tea as the fairies threw out ideas on how to get back to the Enchanted Forest. She had lost twenty-three years never aging but she could begrudgingly thank Regina for Henry and Emma. With the curse broken they could finally go back home somehow and live like that were supposed to from the beginning. Her, David, Emma and Henry were a family and while it would take time to readjust Snow was sure Emma and Henry would make great princess and prince respectively.

David looked her concerned.

"Don't worry Snow when Emma's ready she'll talk to us and stop searching for Regina." He said trying to comfort her.

"I know but it been a week and StoryBrooke is only so big and frankly if Regina wanted to be found she would have by now." Snow huffed out.

David patted her arm and hoped that Emma would come around.

Henry like to think he was a pretty smart ten-year-old but after a week of "Thank you" and pats on the head for getting the savior and helping release the curse he was doubting the way he went about things. His real mom hadn't talked to him since the curse broke a week ago and she didn't stay long enough at Snow's place to get a word in. Henry sat on his bed in his old house everything the same from when he left to stay with Emma at the then Mary Margret's house.

He missed his mother a little bit but a bigger part of him reminded him he did the right thing. Hell his granddad (recently found out) was the Dark one but he wouldn't hurt Henry and he too had been cursed by Regina. Henry frowned the Evil Queen had ruined a lot of lives and his granddad could be good with time. He stroked the book feeling the warmness and whispers coming off it into his ear.

" _Henry you did the right thing she was evil and now all the good guys are free. You'll get to live with your real mom and grandparents. If we're lucky you might find out about your dad."_

Henry grinned at the thought of having his whole family together. Maybe if he could convince Snow and David about his dad they would get Emma back together with him now that the threat of the Evil Queen was gone. Grabbing a few small keepsakes from his room he rushed to Granny's with a new goal in mind and thoughts of Regina were left behind like the rest of his room.

Emma got out of her yellow bug on main street growling in frustration. The stupid curse was moving faster now and the streets were nearly un-drivable. She'd have to walk to Granny's which had become a meeting place/strategy war room over the week. Her long legs carrying her at a brisk pace. She bumped into Gold on his way to Granny's.

"Ah Emma lovely day isn't it." Gold/Rumple says with a smile.

Emma glares at him and rushes past him into Granny's. Ever since she talked in depth about Henry and her childhood in _very_ little(the need to know) detail to her parents, it was found out that Neal was Bealfire and Gold's son. The Dark one had been creepily kind to her wanted to know everything about him. She had no info to give besides that fact he knocked her up and left her to have Henry in prison. Yeah she was still pretty bitter about. Neal wasn't the only one will parental issues and practically orphaned. Emma could almost understand why Neal was the way he was thinking back on her interactions with Gold. She couldn't even imagine how bad he had to have been in the Enchanted Forest.

She was secretly glad she only travel light and had her bag still packed from when she first wanted to leave the town. Emma spotted her parents in the back of the diner with the fairies whom she hadn't met yet. She didn't care to be introduced either as she pulled Snow and David in to the privacy of Granny's office.

"I have something to tell you guys about the curse and Regina." She said.

Snow and David were all ears as Emma explained the letter, the curse, and Regina leaving StoryBrooke.

"Oh my." Snow exclaimed.

"So she's really gone and she broke the curse on her own with no help from you what so ever and the curse is reverting." David comments.

"Pretty much." Emma says.

Snow looks thoughtful at Emma and David.

"This works out wonderfully we don't have to do anything but wait for the Enchanted Forest to come back. We should tell the people quickly so they can grab their things before it all goes away. Also we should meet up in the forest outside of town so we don't get caught in the magic when it turns back." She says.

David agrees with Snow and Emma admits that's a sound idea.

Emma bite her lip her nerves picking a bad time to make themselves known.

"Mary Margret, David I have something to tell you before you go and get everyone together."

Snow and David shared a knowing looked

"Oh Emma we know that going back to the Enchanted Forest is going to be new and strange for you but you'll adjust fine. Plus, we'll be there to help you." Snow says.

"Your mother's right we'll be there with you Emma so no need to worry." David added after Snow.

Emma frowned.

"That's the thing though I can't go back with you to the Enchanted Forest I don't know anything about magic or Fairy tales and curses. I want normal and I worked to damn hard for the bit of normal I do have. I will talk to Henry about what he wants to do so I can make previsions but I want you to know I _am_ going back to New York." She said.

"Emma you can't we just found you and got our memories back. We're your family." Snow said near tears.

Emma snorted bitterly.

"Oh yes some family you are taking the worlds of a fairy over common sense for your new born daughter and having no idea where she would land or if she would survival traveling through worlds or dimensions or whatever." Emma said her voice hard.

"Emma we wanted what was best for you." David chimed in.

Snow was fully crying now.

"I don't care what you wanted or thought. If you really loved me, you would have kept me with you curse or no curse. At least then whether we remembered it or not we would have all been together." She was shouting now the outer dining area quite as they fought.

Emma swung the door to Granny's office open hard.

"I _will_ be going home to New York with there is a regular level of crazy and you can get back to your fairies and gold shitting unicorns in your magical forest as far the hell away from me as possible." She yelled stopping out of Granny's.

Emma bumped into Henry outside of the diner.

"Hey kid." She said trying to calmed down. "Let's go for a walk."

Henry followed her down main street on crack sidewalks passing green vines twisting into buildings as the town broke down back into forest. Emma stopped at her car and leaned against it.

"Kid we have to talk seriously for a second about what you are going to do." Emma said staring at Henry.

"What do you mean? Aren't we going back to the forest to live with Snow and David." He said.

"No kid _we_ aren't doing anything together _. Dammit_ Henry never doubt that I love you but I did give you up for a good reason. I was young and lost and your father was a selfish hobo bum who let me take the fall for him. Even if all that hadn't happened I couldn't have raise you Henry I wouldn't have known how." She said trying to get the stubborn boy to see reason.

"You can't just leave you're the savior." Henry stubbornly said.

Emma grabbed by Henry by the shoulders and shook him lightly.

"Henry for the love of God wake up your book is only a fraction of what I am sure is a very long and complicated story. These are real people's lives not a sugar coated Disney movie. I am going back to New York and you need to decide whether you're with me or your grandparents. Just know that you don't have much time to think I'm leaving in ten minutes before I won't be able to." Emma releases Henry's shoulder climbing into her car.

Henry stood there in shock. Everything he had work toward was falling apart so fast. He didn't want to go back to being the loner and the mayors kid. He was special, he was a prince. He just didn't understand why Emma couldn't get that. Henry stepped away from the car his choice clear as day to Emma.

"Okay kid that's fair. Know though this isn't a game you don't get any take backs once you've crossed over or how ever this works you can't get back." Emma said shifting her car into drive.

The ground rumbled and Regina's purple magic flowed around the town.

"Shit." Emma cursed.

"Kid go run to the forest your grandparents are there with everyone else. Don't stop till you get there." Emma shouted as she pressed the gas and speed to the town line. Looking back only once to make sure Henry followed her instructions.

He was gone by the time she looked. Emma gripped her wheel as the magic buildup of the past week finally released itself going outward following Emma's speeding car. Purple magic leaked into the car as Emma barley made the line. In a blink of the eye StroyBrooke Maine was gone and all that was let was high way.

Emma slowed her car down looking at her mapped. Damn she had gone and got herself on the longer route to New York. Purple magic evaporate into the air going back to its owner somewhere in a highway hotel. The price of the curse being paid in memories.

Emma would never remember StoryBrooke or meeting Henry. In her mind to she'd given him up for adoption ten years ago to a nice single mother and was content to believe he was safe with a good family.

Snow White and Rumpelstiltskin would suffer with the knowledge of Neal/Bealfire and Emma while everyone else went about their lives as if the curse never happened. The Enchanted Forest going back to its original state and those that remembered the curse being cast and living in the left over forest after got their memories replaced with ones of the curse never happening.

 **Epilogue**

Years past and Emma went on to move to a small town in the South were she meet a nice small town lawyer by the name Regina Mills. Neither could fight off the feeling that they may have meet before. They become good friends/rivals depending on the mood challenging each other to be better people.

In the Enchanted Forest Henry grew under the watchful eyes of Snow and David who thinks Henry is his son (due to the curse). Snow welcomes a new baby a year after they return to the forest and the kingdom celebrates the birth of another prince. The queen and the elder prince know the truth though. It pains Snow but Emma is a lost cause and the Dark one is hiding out licking his wounds. He was last seems muttering about plans backfiring on him. No one even bothered to be scared of him these days since he had gone a bit mad.

Cora's imprisonment in Wonderland through the mirror portal released itself after Regina's magic fully left the Enchanted forest and she tries and fails a coupé on the Charming's. The poor women had been operating under the illusion that Regina was around but no one knew a woman by that name and the people assumed that witches/wizards who practiced magic eventually just went crazy at some point.

Henry grows up realizing that he may have been a bit hasty when he was ten and misguided after several near death experiences. He misses the internet and pluming way too much. He remembers it all to vividly and the suffocating life of a prince isn't appealing anymore. There are days when he's free and not being tailed by guards that he visits his other grandparent and they talk for hours about StoryBrooke and Regina. Rumple hates Henry's guts and Henry knows this. He had cost him his son after all but he was the only one who he could talk to about Bealfire. Snow was content with her "first" born child and wanted to forget that the curse and StoryBrooke had ever happened.

Rumple however has a glimmer of hope up his sleeve one last trump card in the form of Regina's letter. He bargained it from Snow White for the safety of future generations of Charming/White royal children from any of his type of " _deal's_ ". The impish man smile toothily his sharp teeth glistening dangerously in the moonlight. It was nice to know he still had his groove of terrifying people into doing what he wanted. The question now was a simple "How do I make this work for me?" he mused as he faded with a shimmer of magic to his dusty old castle to wait for his grandson to show up for one of their drunken evening reminiscing about the old days of StoryBrooke.

Henry arrived and after a few drinks and several broken cups and plates later Rumple made his move. He felt no sympathy for what he was about to do grandson or not the brat had lost him Bealfire and for that he would pay in the most hurtful way imaginable.

"Henry I have something you might be interested in." Rumple said catching Henry's attention

"What Gold?' Henry began taking a swing of ale "You are washed up has been and have no more things to bargain with."

Rumple smirk was shark like under the soft light of the candles in the dinning room.

"I think you will find I am never without a trick up my sleeve dear boy." he said cryptically.

Henry gestured from him to spit it out.

"Well you see boy I have come across some information that you may want to have. A letter written by the Ex-Evil Queen to her once adopted son." He finished watching Henry's face.

Henry almost choked on his ale sitting up from his reclined position at the long wooden table. The same table in the same seat his adoptive mother once sit at. Rumple almost smiled at the irony.

"You lie."He says

Rumple laughs that annoying "I know something you don't and I'll make you sell your soul to find out what" laugh high pitched and taunting. The sound bouncing off the walls of the large hall. Henry's stomach churned with unease.

"I can't read it which is unfortunate. But it is protected by a branch of magic I didn't bother learning" Rumple said two parts proud and annoyed with Regina.

Rumple handed the letter over after getting Henry to agree to read it to him. Henry did and got paler each sentence he read till it looked like he was blend away into the background of the castle. Rumple frowned a little as he listen to Henry red about Regina's life before Snow White, Cora, Daniel, Henry Sr, Snow's father, and himself. He really didn't remember doing half of what was written but it definitely sound like his MO. Henry looked near hysterical at the end of his reading.

What. had .he .done.

There in the letter that was crumpling under his tight grip was the missing details and pieces " _The book "_ hadn't given him. He felt like the world was tilting on it axis and he was falling deep down. He run as fast as his legs could carry him to his waiting horse and made haste home to the White Castle sickened to his stomach by his behavior as Rumples mocking and bitter laughter followes him. Everything he had done the actions he helped happen had all been under false assumptions swirling around his head by the stupid book. Regina and Emma had tried to tell him on several occasions there was more to the story but he wouldn't listen. To stuck in his ways believing that he was the only one who was right and had the knowledge of what to do because he had " _The Book_ ".

Henry spent his days trying to find a way back. Trying to undo his mistake. The letter had shown him how much he had changed by acting the way he had toward Regina. He had ruined so many lives.

He went to burn the book one day after another failed attempt at getting home. He kept in a safe place only to find it gone nothing left but and empty box with a velvet pillow inside. The whispers leaving ghostly trails inside his mind. The book screwed him and his child hood.

He raved and ratted destroying his room late into the night. The servants of the castle under orders to leave the boy, no man be as he went through his episodes.

Henry sobbed as Rumples words echoed in his head.

" _There is always a price to be paid with magic dearie_."

* * *

 **Author's End Note** : Err yeah sorry is kind of got away from me and ended super dramatic and slightly dark. Though it wasn't mentioned much the book is pretty much like the one ring was to Sméagol in LOTR. Henry didn't even know it and since we never meet the writer we don't even find out about how jerky he is or the weird magic behind the author because he never wrote the book Henry read. Get it?! The curse went all Fullmetal Alchemist equivalent exchange on me as I wrote this. So in exchange for the knowledge Henry had and for Rumple little inkling of Bealfire being alive they had to pay big. **Please R &R.**


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